


Late One Night

by villainsarebetter (darkling59)



Series: Monster Month [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Creature Fic, F/M, Horror, drider!fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-04-28 13:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5092319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/villainsarebetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poor spinner Rumple’s journey home is going to take much longer than he’d planned after he stumbles into Belle’s trap. Belle, on the other hand, is quite pleased with her catch - she’s never seen a human up close before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (Today’s ‘monster’ is…Drider! (aka. Spider-person))
> 
> This is Fic #2 in my little Rumbelle monster ficathon, and the roles have gotten a bit topsy turvy; this time, Belle is the creature and Rumple the Spinner is the human. It’s also a lot darker and less cuddly than Fic #1.

Rumpelstiltskin never should have gone through the Spider Woods.

He’d _known_ it was a bad idea. He’d _known_ that taking the High Road was safer, even if the other townspeople frequented it and shunned his presence. He could handle their jostling and insults, their beatings and theft. He’d handled worse, after all, and he had enough of his earnings tucked away in his shoes and belt-pocket that losing the small amount in his coin pouch would not be too great a loss.

But the Woods were so much more peaceful - no one dared follow him into their shadowy depths - and he’d traveled them for so many years without incident…

He’d grown over-confident, too sure of his own safety among the trees.

And now…now he would not survive to regret it.

The telltale signs of the forest’s inhabitants; long strands of white webbing in the trees, gauzy sheets of silk stretching between the plants, and occasionally beasts trapped in fibers of silk stronger than any man; were usually huge and noticeable, the webs built right out in the middle of game trails or suspended in the trees above and easily avoided by anyone with the presence of mind to look up. The spider-folk, driders in the language of the north, spidrens to those from the west, were not usually subtle creatures, preferring a quick kill and stupid, slow prey. Though they had the upper body of humans and only the lower half of spiders (much like centaurs, but combined with a very different animal), they had no interest or attachment to their thinking cousins, and their languages were completely different. To them, humans were nothing but prey that was too small, too clever, and too fast to be worth the effort of hunting.

Which was why, when his staff snagged on something at ground level, Rumpelstiltskin thought nothing of it, merely flicking his good foot in a practiced motion to get rid of whatever pebble or root was in his way. It was only when _that_ foot landed on something sticky - something that _stretched_ \- that he realized something was wrong.

Having his good foot trapped made him stumble and he tripped, keeling sideways towards the nearest tree. His staff did nothing to support him, remaining firmly stuck to the ground. And when he hit the tree, the breath whooshing out of him in a pained yelp of surprise, the hand that automatically shot out for support landed against a sticky silk sheet that gave with an odd stretching sound, until his hand was enveloped up to his wrist in white webbing.

Stone cold terror washed through the spinner as he stared at his trapped hand in dawning comprehension. There was no web above or in front of him, but when he looked down and looked _hard_ , there were silvery filaments crisscrossing the forest floor and stretching up the trees along the path in front of him in a familiar geometric pattern; some threads hovered overhead, passing between the trees as if to make a tunnel, but there were not enough to catch the eye of a traveler. The web was all but invisible this close to its edge; the thick white strands that made up the body of the web were still meters in front of him, but the thin, sticky border had been laid out like a trap.

All of the blood drained from Rumpelstiltskin’s face and he yanked backwards, hoping against hope that the impermeable spider-silk would be weaker so far from the center, but it did not release him. Instead, all his thrashing did was pull him off balance and, with one hand stuck a meter off the ground and his good foot stuck to the ground, there was no way he could remain on his feet. He felt himself topple with the utter certainty of his own doom, unable to keep himself from landing hard.

His free hand wasn’t free for long; on instinct, it came forward to break his fall as he landed on his knees, just barely keeping him from smashing face first into the forest floor. Unfortunately, that left him with both knees and his second hand trapped further inside the unbreakable web.

“No.” He whimpered, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. “No, nonononono…!” He couldn’t die like this - He had to get home, to Bae! His son needed him!

He thrashed in fear, accomplishing nothing but getting himself more stuck. Twisting his hands and arms simply let the web trap him to his elbows, and awkwardly shuffling his legs caught his calves and feet just as badly. But still he struggled desperately, unwilling to give up even as he exhausted himself. After an hour, he finally paused, bracing himself as best he could. He was panting hard and trembling from exertion, but no closer to getting away than he’d been at the beginning of his struggles and despair drew racking sobs from his chest along with his gasps for air.

It was in that moment of semi-silence that he realized he was not alone. It was nothing so simple as a sound or a sight that gave it away…it was a creeping sense of awareness where the hair on the back of his neck prickled. He flinched, eyes widening in terror, before he glanced over his shoulder, unable to stem his morbid curiosity even though he knew he would probably find the agent of his death.

He was correct.

A female of the spider-folk stood mere meters away, the first two long legs of her arthropod lower half resting delicately on the tap-lines of the web, which he hadn’t realized he’d disturbed with his thrashing. Her upper body was unclothed and striking - flawless pale skin and long dark hair framed a pretty face with curious bright blue eyes watching him like…well, like one might look at a rabbit in a snare that was intended for the stew pot. The rest of her was lost in shadow, but Rumpelstiltskin did not notice. He went completely still under her focus, some deep-rooted primal instinct telling him that moving would get him killed.

She cocked her head, considering him for a long moment, then made a low clicking sound and suddenly she was _there_ , a single undulation of her many legs bringing her within touching distance. Rumpelstiltskin flinched back with a yip of surprise and overbalanced, falling onto his side and hopelessly entangling his entire body. In a mindless panic, he instinctively tried to role away, instead getting the webbing on his free side and accidentally pinning himself on his stomach, splayed with all limbs spread out like a sacrifice…or a fly in a spider’s web.

There was that same low clicking noise of satisfaction and a shadow fell across him as she stepped up to - and _over_ \- him. A massive spider’s leg landed next to his shoulder and he knew she was on top of him, her body positioned exactly over his, ready to …to…

Before he could finish the thought, something small and sharp pierced the exposed back of his neck and he whimpered, knowing he was poisoned even before his fingers and toes began to go numb, feeling quickly draining from his limbs. His mind started to spin and his vision tunneled and then went black. The last thing he registered before falling unconscious was the satisfied humming of the spider-woman, and the feel of warm silk wrapping around his legs.

* * *

Belle was _quite_ pleased with her first catch of the night. Her father had always told her that two-legged prey was not worth the effort, that they tasted bad and had almost no meat on their bones when compared to the far tastier bears, deer, and flying snacks, but she didn’t care. She was _curious_. She’d never seen two-legged prey up close before. Normally, she wouldn’t let such a self-indulgent desire get in the way of her hunting, but it had been a good month; she had enough cocooned prey stored in her home-web to last the season. She could spare some time for her curiosity.

It had taken her much longer than she’d expected to catch one of them; they were rare in her territory, and the few times they came, they were quiet and watchful and avoided the game trails her normal prey used. She’d learned through experience that normal webs would not work on them; they were too clever to fall for the same tricks as four-legged prey, so she’d decided to try something completely new, something no one - not her kind, nor any type of prey - would expect. This ground-web-tunnel was the result.

And it _worked_.

She’d been ecstatic when she felt the tap-line vibrate from her position further in the forest and up one of the trees, but she’d remained still, hoping it wasn’t a false alarm. Then the two-legged prey started to struggle and she knew it was hers. She watched as it tired itself out, knowing it would be easier to complete the hunt once it stopped moving. Its quiet yelps and whimpers, punctuated by occasional soft barks, surprised her - she hadn’t known two-legged prey could make noise at all. She’d almost felt bad when her prey finally collapsed from exhaustion and it came time to end the hunt. Those big liquid brown eyes - so much more expressive than normal four-legged prey - seemed to beg her for mercy and had it kept looking at her like that, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to take it down. But once it was pinned facing away she found it easier to administer the immobilizing bite and get down to the business of cocooning her prize.

She didn’t inject enough venom to kill it; what would be the point of that? She’d put so much time and effort into catching one of the elusive beasts that killing it right away felt like a waste. Once she had it safely tucked away in her home-web, she might not even eat it - it looked just as lacking in meat as her father had warned and she had plenty of four-legged prey and feathered snacks to keep her satisfied for a while- but she intended to find out everything she could about the strange creature while she had it. It took a lot to satisfy her curiosity, but now she finally had a two-legged beast of her own to study to her heart’s content.

With a happy croon, she finished the cocoon, pulling the final sheet of webbing snug with a sharp jerk and a satisfied pat on the finished product- it wasn’t as tight as she would use for four-legged prey; two legged-prey was much too fragile to break free from even the weakest silk and a tight cocoon could smother it - and used the serrated barbs on the backs of her first-ankles to detach the cocoon from the web. She easily lifted her prize from the ground and settled it on her lower body, pulled snug up against her back where her upper back formed a right angle with her spider abdomen and she could feel the faint warm pulse of its heartbeat against her bare skin even through layers of silk and cloth. A final thin layer of webbing bound it in place at the juncture of her first set of legs so it wouldn’t fall.

Content that her prize had been firmly secured, Belle set about re-weaving the parts of the web that had been disrupted. Once it was re-set, she turned back towards the forest, intent on checking the rest of her webs. Maybe she’d have a few more cocoons to add to her cargo before the night was out. If nothing else, she could at least add a few four-legged prey to her burden, to fatten her larder a bit more.

The proudly satisfied spider-woman slipped silently back into the forest bearing the unfortunate spinner, now reduced to an unrecognizable bundle of white silk. Behind her, the forest quickly returned to normal, completely undisturbed by the horrible scene that had played out on the picturesque trail.

A simple notched wooden staff laying abandoned in the brush was the only indication that it had happened at all. **  
**

* * *

**Notes about this universe:**

-Belle releases Rumple from his cocoon when she has a confined space set up for him in her living area, letting him roam around her ‘home’ so she can better satisfy her curiosity about humans.

-In the beginning, Rumple (who is completely terrified) thinks she’s keeping him alive to fatten him up and eat him later. After a while, he begins to think she wants to keep him as a pet.

-When Bae finds out what happened, he decides to rescue his papa.


	2. Prompt 1

_**Getting to Know You** _

**This Prompt Fill:** Belle tries to get her ‘guest’ settled in safely while Rumpelstiltskin wakes up in a nightmarish situation and tries to escape his captor.

**Prompt:** @iambicdearie: Drider!Verse: Rumple attempts an escape.

* * *

 Belle’s ‘official’ introduction to her two-legged guest did not go well.

She’d thought through what she wanted to do with it as she checked her webs, removed her other catches, and reset any silk that had been disturbed by prey and by the time she was done, many hours had passed. She could feel minute movements from the silk wrapped bundle against her back – a sure sign that the creature was waking up. It was perfect timing; she’d be all set to let it out once she’d prepared her home web and it would be fully awake and ready to engage around the time she was done.

Since she was most interested in seeing it fully awake and active, it seemed best to let the poison work its way out of the creature’s system before removing her silk. With that in mind, she set that particular cocoon to the side once she got back to her web, then took her time envenoming and storing the four legged food-prey she’d managed to capture. She also cleared away anything laying around the cave that contained her web – she wanted nothing that could be used to escape or accidentally hurt it.

By the time she finished, the creature was fully awake and squirming pitifully within its tight confinement. She hooked the serrated barbs on her forelegs into the silk and easily ripped it back, revealing her captive in his entirety.

Instead of stopping or staring or making noises at her, the creature  _panicked_.

She had a split second to register that the bright brown eyes were so wide she could see the whites all the way around before it let out a high pitched howl and _lunged_ at her. She was so startled, she lost her footing scuttling backwards and overbalanced, nearly falling. The creature scrambled past her – even over some of her legs - remarkably quickly for something with such a horrible limp and made it to the doorway before she could catch it.

Her hearts stopped as he lurched to a stop, pin wheeling his arms on the edge as he belatedly realized the mouth of her cavern was a good twenty feet above the ground. The shock of the height gave her enough time to grab him from behind, gripping him by the back of his neck and hissing angrily, but the eyes that met hers were lost in terror, far beyond thought. He struggled in desperation, thrashing wildly, until she let him go and pushed him towards the middle of the cavern, causing him to flee to the farthest corner of her home, taking refuge in her sleeping hollow. Thanks to her earlier cleaning efforts, there was nothing for him to hide behind so he huddled down as small as possible inside the padded nest, panting and terrified, eyes fixed on her as he pressed his trembling form against the wall as hard as possible.

Belle frowned in concern and disappointment. She had not expected such an adverse reaction; she’d tried to keep captured rabbits before but they always died of fear from living in too close proximity to such a large predator, and larger four-legged prey tried to attack, refusing to be tamed. But nothing had reacted with this odd blend of aggression and terror before.

Uncertain of what she should do, the spider-woman remained standing in front of the entrance, blocking it off with her body and watching the subject of her interest with frustration.

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin barely remembered his first awakening; all he knew was the feeling of all consuming fear and a few rushed memories of reaction that made little sense. He did remember the sight of his captor standing in front of the single entrance to her cave, and collapsing once the adrenaline drained away, but his next period of true lucidity came when he woke up the second time.

This time, he found that she had left him alone curled up in his corner and he must not have been out for very long. She was still standing in front of the entrance, this time with her back to him, smooth muscles shifting beneath her pale skin, weaving a web across the entrance. Even as frightened as he was, he immediately understood what she was doing and his heart sank. Apparently, he’d used up his only chance to escape; if he tried now, he’d just get stuck and she’d be free to poison and cocoon him at her leisure.

He didn’t know why she hadn’t eaten him yet. Even if his panicked dash after being released had taken her off guard, she’d had him at her mercy during his last bout of unconsciousness.

However, escape was not optional - it was  _necessary_. Every step without his staff was agony, his bad leg protesting the rough treatment he’d put it through with so much struggling in the cocoon, but he still forced himself upright as quietly as possible and limped along the side of the cave with one hand on the smooth stone for support. Every few feet, his hand would pass over thick strands of webbing and his feet trod upon panels of silk, but thankfully none of them were sticky - they seemed to be there for decoration or support. Slowly, he crept up alongside the spider woman, trying to slip through the entrance before she realized he was there. Vaguely, he remembered there was a reason he hadn’t escaped in his initial panic, but he could not remember what it was and he couldn’t afford to let it distract him.

His captor did not turn around, not even when he was mere feet from the entrance, so focused was she on weaving the web to hold him in. There were already preliminary strands- all of them bright white and sticky - but they were strung at chest height. As smoothly as possible, still behind her line of sight, Rumple sunk to his knees and crawled forward, silently begging the gods to have mercy on him for once and let this work.

It did not work.

Before he could poke more than his head past the barrier, a hand snagged the back of his collar and yanked him backwards, sending him sprawling inside the cave at the spider woman’s feet. She was making a series of low, angry grumbling and clicking sounds that did not bode well for Rumple’s continued survival.

He tried to scramble away but she kept a firm grip on his collar and he found himself pulled upright and forced to stare directly into her eyes. Distantly, he noted they were bright blue, not the dead black he’d been expecting.

“Please…please don’t…” he whimpered, cringing away from her, fully expecting to be killed.

The spider woman’s head tilted as she studied him for a long moment. He couldn’t quell his trembling but nor did he look away - if he was going to die, he wanted to see it coming, if only to use his last breath to apologize to Bae for leaving him alone.

However, to his surprise, instead of attacking him, the spider-woman used her grip on his shirt to turn him around to see the web-barrier over the entrance. He stiffened but she did not force him forward into it to be bitten and cocooned again. Right beside his head, so close he could feel her breath ruffle his hair, she let out a clearly defined series of sounds.

_Click-click-growl._

He swallowed, feeling his heart jump and his legs and hands tremble with fear. Words would not come - there was nothing he could think of that might sway her, even if she was able to understand him. The spot on his neck where she’d bitten him earlier itched and he was viscerally aware that she was close enough to do it again if she wanted. After a long beat of silence, of stalemate, her grip loosened and she made a different sound.

_Purr-whistle._

Rumple was so surprised to be released and his legs so unsteady that he immediately wobbled and one hand instinctively shot out for balance and support, coming dangerously close to the sticky threads over the cave’s entrance.

Immediately, her hand returned, this time gripping the back of his neck, and tightened, making him wince in pain.

_Click-click-growl._

He jerked his hand back, fearful of her displeasure.

_Purr-whistle._

Understanding came to him quickly. It was the combination of the pointed way she enunciated her sounds, the obvious satisfaction and irritation that accompanied his actions, and her physical restraint that clued him in.

He gulped and slowly extended his hand towards the web, not intending to touch it, but needing to test his hypothesis.

_Click-click-growl._

He pulled his hand back.

_Purr-whistle_

His shoulders slumped and he looked away from her and the entrance. He remained as such, balancing his weight on his good leg and very conscious of the monster at his back as she weakened and then finally released her grip. He could feel her eyes studying him and sense her approval when he did not reach for the entrance again. Her final  _purr-whistle_ carried a distinct note of satisfaction and a light hand at the small of his back urged him back into the creature’s lair, away from the entrance.

He stumble-limped away from her until he hit the other end of the cave and leaned against the wall, watching through the curtain of his hair as she finished the web, blocking off the hole he’d almost crawled through and leaving the rest of it covered in sticky trap-lines. They were only connected to the sides by a couple of thick strands, easy enough for her to detach in order to leave or return but if Rumple tried, he’d be as surely stuck as he’d been in the forest.

He was terrified and helpless but something inside still raged and refused to be resigned to this fate, whatever it was. He needed to get home for his son and he would continue trying to escape as long as he was physically able. He’d just have to find a way through the web or come up with a different plan.

He’d put everything he had into getting away.

He just hoped the spider woman did not get hungry before he succeeded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's another Monster Month prompt fill for y'all!
> 
> Enjoy! And please let me know what you think. :)


	3. Prompt 2

_**Family is Never Forgotten** _

**This Prompt Fill:** Belle meets her second human at the same place she found Rumpelstiltskin. She does not immediately realize the two events are connected, a distinction she comes to regret.

**Prompt:** @the-time-lady-sage: Drider!verse prompt: Belle meets Bae

* * *

 Belle’s second meeting with a human happened at the same spot she’d met her first human, that long, shadowy stretch of trail that cut through her forest from the main trade-road on one side to the human settlement on the other. She’d removed her low-hanging webs mere days after getting her human settled in, realizing that she didn’t have the time or space to handle more than one. Not unless she wanted to eat them, anyway, and what small desire she’d had to do so had vanished as she got to know her captive. She still couldn’t pronounce his name, but she knew he had one and he was on a whole different level than her normal prey.

Last time, she’d felt his struggling through her web first; this time, she heard the same coughing, gasping sound she’d come to realize was a sign of unhappiness for his species. Her human made that sound sometimes when he thought she couldn’t hear him. No matter what she did when she heard him, it didn’t seem to help - all he wanted to do was curl up in the corner and be alone with his unhappiness. If she interfered, he refused to look at her and tried to avoid her once he’d stopped making the sounds. She’d learned to leave him alone and pretend she did not hear him, though it bothered her and left a strange heavy feeling in her chest to know he was unhappy.

This time, she hesitated in fixing her web, considering her options. This was not her human and there was no reason to encounter it, but her curiosity outweighed her caution and she found herself setting aside the sticky strands and following the strange sounds back to their source.

What she found was a very small human crouching on his knees in the underbrush, making despairing noises over…a wooden stick?

Belle hesitated and cocked her head, observing the small human with confusion. He was  _much_ smaller than her human in both height and mass. The hair on his head was darker and thicker, but his face was smoother (her human’s face had become rough and hairy in the weeks since she’d acquired him). Other than that, they were surprisingly similar. Their garments were nearly identical in make, they were equally dirty, and there was something very similar about the tone of the unhappy sounds they made.

Belle watched him for so long that he must have felt her eyes on his head, because he looked up, revealing eyes the same shade of brown as her human’s and a face that was close to the same shape, though rounder with youth.

Those soft brown eyes looked exactly the same when they shot wide and stared at her in terror.

For some reason, the similarity made her uneasy. It was quite possible that  _all_ humans looked that close in appearance but something about the situation felt _wrong_.

Uncomfortable, Belle decided she’d lingered long enough and turned to leave, determined to focus her attention on  _her_ human from that point onward.

So focused was she, that she did not realize the small human was following her.

* * *

The weathered staff twisted in Bae’s grip as he clutched it close and crept through the trees. It was the only sign he had that his papa had even been in this forest and hadn’t simply vanished into thin air. Well, that and the obvious signs of struggle where he’d found it accompanied by the sticky residue of a massive broken spider’s web.

The townspeople had started whispering the day after his father vanished. _Bandits_ , they said. _Thieves. Magical monsters. Maybe the coward had gotten what he deserved. Maybe he had run and left his son behind. Maybe, maybe, maybe…._

Bae hadn’t believed that and he’d had absolute faith his papa was just running late, faith that waned as the weeks passed and fear grew. He tried to spin, to take over his father’s day-to-day responsibilities and keep their livelihood going until Rumpelstiltskin got back but found it to be extremely difficult. He’d never appreciated just how much work his papa did in a day until he needed to take over - he could only spin a quarter of his father’s typical workload on his own. The wool was already running out and market day was fast approaching - two responsibilities he knew he could not handle alone.

However, he was far more worried about his missing papa. He knew Rumpelstiltskin would not abandon him and refused to believe his father was dead, but the only lead he had came over two weeks after his disappearance. Someone mentioned the shortcut through the forest of the spider-folk had been covered in webs a few weeks ago, traps which had miraculously disappeared since then, and realization struck, bringing with it a sick feeling of dread.

His papa often took that shortcut to avoid thieves and favor his crippled leg.

Bae cobbled together all of the supplies he could find and set out to find his father…only to come upon his familiar staff abandoned on the side of the trail, sticky with spider-silk on the bottom. It was less than half a day’s journey from the village.

His papa would never, ever willingly leave his staff behind.

The sick feeling of dread churning in the pit of his stomach ballooned into horror and grief. Everyone knew what happened to creatures - man or animal - caught in the webs of spiderfolk. Death was slow, painful, and unavoidable.

For a long, horrible twenty minutes, Bae cried out his grief alone beside the trail, clutching what he thought was all that remained of Rumpelstiltskin. Then he looked up and choked on his own sobs, finding himself face to face with the spider that had almost definitely murdered his father.

He stared at her, eyes full of tears, wanting to shout and attack, confront her for the crime she  _must_ have committed, but knowing it would be worth his life if he did. However, she was a predator and he was prey - he expected her to try to kill him anyway and prepared to run when she attacked.

Instead of attacking, she just watched him for a long moment, then made an odd clicking sound and walked away.

Bae was stunned.

She’d spared his life. Why would she spare his life?

…If she’d spared  _his_ life, maybe she’d spared  _his papa_ ’s life too?

Given the barest spark of hope and a direction to focus it, Bae followed the spider-woman with single-minded determination, staying close to the ground and away from her webs. He was absolutely silent and trailed her for a good two hours until she made her way back to her lair, easily climbing up a sheer cliff-face with her many legs and vanishing into the mouth of a cave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm finally caught up on responding - it was a rough few days, but the situation I mentioned last time seems to be improving. Thank you for your patience!
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please let me know what you think. :)


	4. Prompt 3

**_Lost and Found_ **

**This Prompt Fill:** Bae finds his father and the two of them are faced with the obstacle of getting him out of the drider’s cave.

**Prompt:** @iambicdearie: Drider!Verse: Bae tries to get his father out.

* * *

Bae huddled in the shadows of the trees, staring up the cliff-side at the mouth of a small cave set fifteen feet above his head. That was where the spider woman’s trail ended and a tracery of webbing shone in the sunlight over the cave’s entrance; deceptively bright and harmless looking in contrast to the forbidding black hole behind it. It had to be her lair.

If his father was alive, he’d be in there.

Bae was a brave lad, if a bit reckless, and he’d inherited his father’s cleverness. He knew that storming the entrance would not work, especially with the monster inside. Besides, he couldn’t even reach it. A short attempt to climb the sheer cliff-face was quickly abandoned and instead he focused on the large trees that grew next to it. (Leaving was  _not_ an option.)

He picked the one closest to the cave and climbed it until he was right below his target. Both of his palms were barked in the process and one shin was scraped raw, but he considered that a minor price to pay for saving his father’s life. Granted, the chance that Rumpelstiltskin was still alive was slim, but it was still a chance and that was enough to give him hope.

For a long while, Bae wrestled with himself on what to do at the entrance. If he called for his father, would the spider woman hear? Would his father be able to walk or reach the entrance? What if he was stuck to a web - how would Bae get him out? How could he get past the web that covered the entire mouth of the cave? He’d picked up a sharp rock at the bottom of the cliff, hoping to have a weapon if things went wrong - would that be enough?

Now that he’d reached his target, what did he  _do_?

Common sense was not always his first answer (Bae was generally an impulsive boy, more given to acting then thinking), but with his father’s life on the line he knew he could not be hasty. Despite how he chafed with impatience, he decided that there was nothing he could do while the spider-woman was inside and curled himself back against the trunk of the tree behind the camouflaging leaves and branches to wait until she left.

Two hours later, he got his chance.

He watched with rapt attention as the creature detached the sticky web over the entrance with two of her legs and re-stuck it in place once she was outside. The entire time, she continually made clicking, chirping, and growling sounds, seeming to communicate with someone inside. (Bae truly hoped she wasn’t talking to another spider - if she was, he was in deep, deep trouble.) Once it was back in place, she scaled the cliff-face down as easily as she’d climbed up and vanished into the woods.

Bursting with impatience, Bae could not force himself to wait more than ten minutes to ensure her absence before creeping out of his cover and stretching up to try to peer over the rock lip into the cave.

“Papa?” He whispered.

Something shuffled in the deep shadows.

“Papa?” He called, a little bit louder. The shuffling instantly stopped and a quiet whisper answered Bae from the darkness, in a familiar voice that instantly soothed his grieving heart.

“Bae?”

His father stumbled out of the darkness, off balance without his staff, and came to a halt right on the other side of the web. He was gaunt, pale, filthy, and there was long stubble framing is normally smooth face, but he looked uninjured. All of that paled next to the fact that he was  _alive_.

“Papa!” Bae cried, lunging forward towards him. He was lucky the tree limb was strong enough to hold him because all sense of caution evaporated in that moment when he flung himself at the rough rock face, managing to catch his hands on the lip of the cave entrance and scrabble up to the very small stone step outside of the web. He almost jumped straight  _into_ the web in an attempt to get to his father, but checked himself at the last minute.

“Bae!” Rumpelstiltskin was filled with mingled relief and fear. He was unbelievably happy to see his boy, but Bae had put himself in very real danger by coming after him. Careful of the web, Rumple reached through an open gap and gripped his son’s shoulder, communicating as much love and happiness as he could through the only contact he could manage. Bae’s returning smile was tearful and he clasped his father’s hand like he would never let go.

“What are you doing here, lad?” Rumple inquired quietly after a few moments of tearful reunion.

“I came to rescue you!”

“Oh, Bae…”

Not noticing (or ignoring) his father’s helpless tone, Bae explained his plan with bright eyes and a grin. “We just have to get you out before the monster comes back! I saw her break the web and I picked up a sharp rock before I climbed up here - I’m sure I can get you out!”

Rumple’s lip twisted in uncertainty. He did not want to remain the spider-woman’s captive until he died (she’d already removed anything he might use to break the web from the cave), but he was much more concerned for his son’s safety should she find him there than for his own. However, he knew Bae would never leave without him, just as he never would have left his son had their positions been reversed.

“Alright.” He agreed reluctantly after a long moment. “But at the first sight of her return, promise me you will run.”

“Papa…” Bae sighed irritably - he was  _sure_ he could rescue his father before she got back.

“ _Promise me_ , Bae.”

“Okay, okay…”

There were six sticky support strands for the web spaced evenly around the entrance and Bae needed to break four of them for his father to easily walk out. He applied himself with enthusiasm, sawing at the nearest strand with his sharp rock. On his father’s insistence, he wrapped strips of cloth torn from his shirt around his hand, just in case he brushed the web and got stuck.

It took longer than expected, but eventually he got through two strands. Whenever his hands got tired, he passed the rock through the web and his father sawed at it from his side. They took a short break at the halfway point, sitting next to each other on opposite sides of the barrier.

Rumple abruptly sat up straight, waving Bae to silence and listening hard. He heard nothing. Nothing at all. No animals, no birds, no insects…only the wind through the leaves. It was as if everything had fled in fear. The hair raised on the back of his neck and dread seized his heart.

“Bae, you need to leave.”

“What? But-.”

“She’s coming back. You need to go.” Rumple said, voice harsh with worry and fear.

Bae’s mouth set in a stubborn line. “No! We’re almost done and then you’ll be free!”

The boy attacked the next strand despite Rumple’s demands, and eventually pleas, for him to run and hide.

The third strand had just snapped from its mooring when a sound from below froze both humans in their tracks.

_Click-click-growl!_

As one, they turned and looked down, finding the resident spider-woman standing directly below them, glaring daggers at Bae. She bared sharp teeth in a sudden snarl and set her forelegs against the rock face, climbing up the cliff more rapidly than the humans had thought possible.

The sharp rock fell from Bae’s suddenly nerveless fingers and he instinctively shrunk away from the approaching monster towards his father, but there was nothing Rumpelstiltskin could do behind the web barrier. The spider-woman was at the entrance in mere seconds, reaching for Bae with murder in her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! And please let me know what you think. :)


	5. Prompt 4

**_Genuine Regret_ **

**This Prompt Fill:** Belle realizes the implications of what she’s done when she comes face to face with Rumple and Bae.

**Prompt:** @iambicdearie: Drider!Verse: Rumple finally realizes that Belle doesn’t intend to hurt him.

* * *

“No!” Rumpelstiltskin howled, a sound of pure anguish and terror at seeing his young son facing off against the monster that had held him captive for the last fortnight. Bae barely came up to the creature’s chest and his slim, small body was a stark contrast to her massive spider lower half. “Leave him alone!”

Rumple dropped to his knees and surged forward, squeezing through the gap Bae had made in the web. It was not quite big enough to let him through; he felt the sticky silk catch on his clothes and some of his hair in an attempt to hold him fast but he did not slow down. The pain of having a few patches of hair ripped out and shredding his shirt were small prices to pay to reach his boy. He was terrified of what the spider woman would do to his son.

As soon as he was free, he stumbled upwards and lurched forward, throwing himself in front of Bae as best he could. His leg did not hold up well under the sudden movement and he wobbled alarmingly but Bae’s supporting hand caught his arm before he could fall and the familiar weight of his walking staff was pressed into his hand.

Rumpelstiltskin did not turn to speak to him; his eyes remained fixed on his captor who had come to an abrupt halt when he jumped in front of her target. Her hand was outstretched mere inches from him but she showed no signs of advancing. In fact, the hostility had dropped from her expression, replaced by confusion and uncertainty.

“Please…Please don’t hurt my son.” Rumple’s voice broke on the last word and he felt Bae’s hands tighten in the back of his shirt. When he tried to peer around his father to get a better look, Rumple shifted to remain in front of him, acting as a barrier to danger. His staff was the only weapon he had but that was better than he’d had in the past two weeks - if nothing else, he could at least buy Bae time to run.

The spider-woman cocked her head and made a low inquisitive sound.

“He’s my son. Take me instead…I’ll-I’ll stay if you let my son go.” Rumple offered, voice shaking.

“Papa!”

“Hush, Bae.”

The spinner’s focus never wavered so he saw the exact moment realization dawned on his captor. Her blue eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. The forelegs and arms reaching for them dropped to her sides and she slunk a step back down the cliff.

* * *

Belle stared at her human in shock. She’d never considered the idea that he might be leaving something behind when she snatched him up. Her kind were territorial loners that rarely kept permanent nests and did not keep many possessions. Drider offspring were hatched from eggs (one egg per hatching) and were fully able to protect themselves as soon as they emerged. Their parents taught them how to hunt and allowed them to remain in their territories until they could handle prey on their own and then the hatchlings left to find their own territories. After that, they rarely saw other driders. As a result, “family” wasn’t really a concept Belle understood.

However, she’d seen social animals with their young : wolves in packs caring for pups, clumsy bear cubs following their mother through the woods, adult birds stuffing insects and seeds into the mouths of creeling hungry chicks…she’d even seen the human village at the far side of her territory, where many humans lived together.

In the past two weeks, she’d come to see her human more as a drider than one of his kind. But now the difference was smacking her in the face.

The small human she’d found in the forest was her human’s offspring, and the similarities now that they were standing side by side were staggering. Even the stick he’d been whimpering over in the woods fit into her human’s hand with obvious familiarity (why hadn’t she considered getting him a walking aid?). No wonder he’d been unhappy with his imprisonment - did he have a mate at home? A pack? Had he thought the little one would die without him? Did he think she would hurt the child?

When he spoke to her, the tone of his voice was pleading - she could tell he was begging even though she couldn’t understand the words.

The sense of wrongness she’d felt earlier intensified and her heart sank. She’d taken the human because she was curious, with no regard for his thoughts or feelings and she had no long term plans for him. She’d come to enjoy his company though, and knew she would never hurt him. Thinking about holding him against his will, keeping him away from his home, pack, and child left a nasty taste in her mouth.

As much as it pained Belle, she knew there was only one thing she could do.

* * *

Rumple and Bae watched the spider-woman with baited breath as she looked between them, obviously thinking hard. Finally, she sighed and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Both of them relaxed slightly at the cessation of hostility, but it was a false hope - in the next second, her hand shot forward and grabbed Rumple by the front of his shirt, yanking him forward and against her chest.

His startled yelp was drowned out by Bae’s terrified cry.

_“Papa!”_

Abruptly, the world went topsy-turvy and Rumple found himself at the bottom of the cliff when the world finally righted itself. The spider-woman set him on his feet and he wobbled, only remaining upright thanks to his staff. Bae arrived in a shower of pebbles and loose dirt mere seconds later, descending in more of a controlled fall than a climb and ending wrapped in Rumpelstiltskin’s arms.

Father and son hugged for a long second, two weeks of desperation, grief, and fear seeping away as they took comfort in each other’s presence.

_Purr-whistle._

The familiar sounds drew Rumple back to his captor. She was standing a couple meters away, expression sad. There was no sign that she intended to hurt either of them or that she was going to snatch him up again.

“I…I don’t understand.” The spinner said quietly.

She made an obvious shooing gesture, a motion that transcended language and species barriers, and Rumple’s eyes widened. Did that mean what he thought it meant?

“She’s letting us go.” Bae interpreted. His hand tightened around his father’s and he pulled away, tugging him away from the site of his captivity. “Let’s go before she changes her mind.”

“I…” Rumple limped after him a few steps, then turned back to look at her in confusion. She hadn’t followed.

_Purr-whistle._

She sounded happy that he was moving away from her, but looked sad. She really was letting him go.

“Thank you.” He infused as much gratitude into his voice as he could and received a sad smile in response.

Then he gave in to Bae’s frantic tugging and followed his son into the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! And please let me know what you think. :)


	6. Prompt 5

**This Prompt Fill:** Belle spies on her human and attempts to make amends.

**Prompt** : @iambicdearie: Drider!Belle tries to apologize :D, @Anonymous: Rumple to thank Belle, leave her his finest thread (or something made out of it). Belle is surprised to find out that her human is capable of making such incredible "web". [maybe she can even see, from the very edge of her territory, their little hut]

* * *

Despite Belle’s decision to let her human go back to his own kind, she found that she missed his presence almost as soon as he was out of sight. Driders were usually solitary creatures, but she’d grown fond of his company over the last fortnight and now her home-nest felt far too empty.

Setting him free had been for the best, she knew. He had not wanted to live with her and she did not want to make him miserable by keeping him from his child, mate, and pack. However, the night after she released him, she found herself straying away from her normal hunting routes, following the trail of scuffed dirt and broken grass that the two humans had left in their wake when they fled. It was no mystery where they were going; there was a human settlement not far from the border of her territory. When she’d first decided to hunt two-legged prey, she’d scoped it out as thoroughly as she could without crossing the border, just as she’d done with the road close to where she’d captured her human.

It was a long time before she caught a glimpse of him since he did not emerge at night and she rarely went out during the day, but eventually she saw him standing in the doorway of one of the dwellings on the very edge of the settlement. Her heart jumped in her chest at the sight of him, a thrill that got caught up in her hunting instincts. She itched to catch him again, bind him with her silk and draw him back to her, run her claws over his face and through his hair, and listen to his quiet barks and yelps even as she responded with her own clicks and hisses.  They could not understand each other, but she could pretend that they did.

It was easy enough to suppress the instinct; the human was far enough away that it would take a concerted effort for Belle to even get near him, let alone catch him. But Belle still watched him with unfulfilled longing for the few moments that he was outside. She watched him standing slumped over in the doorway holding his walking stick in front of him like a shield and watching the world with wary eyes, a position of fear and submission. He rarely raised his head from its downcast set and the only sign of real happiness or animation she saw from him was when his child approached.

At first, the drider thought that maybe his unhappiness was temporary. She even considered that maybe he’d had second thoughts about leaving her and was unhappy about his choice – but he didn’t improve the next time she saw him. Or the next. Or any time after that.

That was when she started to wonder if it was her fault. Had she damaged him in some way? Changed him? She’d tried to be gentle and keep him well-fed and cared for while she had him – what if she’d done something wrong?

It seemed obvious to her that his circumstances had to be a result of her actions. Surely he’d been happy beforehand. Why else would he have tried so very hard to get away?

If it was her fault, what could she do to make him happy again?

She watched, worried, and wondered. Her options were limited since she couldn’t actually approach him – she wouldn’t fit in his nest, even if he decided to welcome her, so anything personal was not feasible. She could spin silk for him, but he’d never seemed very interested or impressed by the webs in her nest – if anything, he’d seemed frightened by them. However, she did not have anything else to give.

It was as she was watching the village one evening, waiting for her human to emerge as he sometimes did when his child came home with the advent of nightfall, when an idea struck her. Her human had always looked unhealthily skinny to her, but she’d assumed that was just the nature of the species when he hadn’t seemed sick or died. Now, looking at the other humans bustling around and shutting themselves inside of their wooden nests, she noticed that they were all considerably wider around the waist than hers. They all seemed happier, too.

Perhaps, if hunger was the issue, she could hunt for him?

The next night she forewent her own hunting to catch a small four-legged prey, a rabbit, and made sure to kill it cleanly without biting it (experience had taught her that her human could not ingest any food containing her venom – he’d nearly died the only time she tried to feed him meat she’d killed in such a fashion) and then removing every trace of webbing (experience had also taught her that he could not get through her silk no matter how hard he tried).  Then, in the small hours of the night, she snuck into the village, a massive eight-legged shadow that did not cause a panic only because there was no one around to see her.

The village slept on as she laid her offering in front of her human’s doorway and then returned to her territory.

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin discovered the rabbit when he tripped over it and almost broke his neck. He was always one of the first men awake in the village so that he could gather water and daily necessities before the others emerged to scorn and bully him and so that he could get an early start on spinning to make the most of the day.

The light was only just teasing the horizon when he stumbled outside, leaning heavily on his staff and stifling his yawns with his unoccupied hand. He nearly pitched forward on his face when his stick got caught on the furry body.

At first, he thought it was a joke. There was a band of young teenagers who were just reaching the age where they understood that Rumpelstiltskin was a victim and a target rather than an adult to be obeyed – their parents had made sure they internalized _that_ message. Rumple had already dealt with a handful of pranks and he worried that they were getting more dangerous as the children got older – it wouldn’t be out of character for them to set a bundle of worn out furs on his step just to make him fall.

But there were no laughs and jeers, no pointing children that scurried away when he scolded them.

And then he realized it wasn’t a bundle of furs at all. It was a rabbit. A plump, un-butchered rabbit with enough meat on its bones to keep him and Bae fed for at least three days – a valuable, unexpected bounty.

He hastily squirreled it away inside the door before anyone could notice and take it away from him, and then moved on to gather water from the well, wondering all the while who would give him a rabbit like that.

Charity?

Not likely. Not for the village coward.

But if not charity, they what?

It was as he was skinning the rabbit that he found his answer. The spider-woman had meticulously removed all of her webbing, but there was a slight adhesive quality left behind on the rabbit’s fur that caught at his hands. He was well used to it since he’d been wrapped up in her webs more than once and had spent hours trying to scrub the residue from his skin. He’d only ever encountered such a sensation with her webs, and there were no other spider-folk that might look kindly on Rumpelstiltskin and his son.

It worried him that she was still interested in him. In fact, if she knew where he lived, she had to be actively _watching_ him. However, the meat was sorely needed and Rumple could not reject it, not if it would keep his son’s belly full for even a short while. Bae’s snares might catch a couple squirrels once a week or so and the other villagers were more likely to sneer at him and kick his staff away if he dared to try to buy meat from one of them. He could buy some at the market, marked up at least double, but that only came once a week (or once a month, when there weren’t enough people around). The only other option was to travel to a larger village to buy meat, but that ate up precious working hours. For the most part, he and Bae made due on a few bites of squirrel meat, grain, and semi-fresh vegetables.

That morning, he was able to make a quick rabbit stew and Bae woke up to the heady smell of cooking meat. The look of excitement on his face was enough to convince Rumpelstiltskin that he’d made the right decision.

And when another rabbit was delivered to his doorstep three days later, he began to wonder if he could pay the spider-woman back somehow.

* * *

Belle found the package when she came to the edge of her territory to watch for her human one night, as had become her habit when she was in the area at twilight. It was a small bundle of familiar fur tucked behind a bush a little beyond her territory. Since she knew that the fur had been in her human’s possession, she was dreadfully curious and barely even waited until nightfall before she crept over and unwrapped it.

Inside was a cream-colored doubled over twist of…silk?

No, not quite silk. Or not _real_ silk anyway. It was the same sort of substance that made up the humans’ clothing. She unwrapped the end of the strand curiously and studied it, investigating the weave and strength with the pads of her fingers. It was actually quite fascinating; soft rather than sticky, and surprisingly strong and durable for all that it couldn’t stretch like a sheet of silk. She could break it, but she didn’t think it would deteriorate the way her webs would if left alone too long. It was also a much more pleasing color; cream rather than sickly white.

Was it a gift? A thank you?

Whatever her human had intended, it was a thoughtful gesture and it indicated that he did not actually hate her. Its very presence reminded her of him and she happily ran it through her hands, winding it around one wrist and deciding she would find some way to use it as a decoration or turn it into a covering of her own, like the humans wore. Perhaps she could weave it into a circle for her neck the way she’d seen human females don pretty metal and stones.

With a quiet hum and a light heart, Belle set out to find another rabbit to leave outside her human’s nest.


	7. Prompt 6

**This Prompt Fill:** When Rumple runs into trouble trying to escape from Hordor, Belle arrives just in time to interfere.

**Prompts** : @Anonymous: Drider!Belle sees Rumpletiltskin and Baelfire again when they're fleeing Bae's conscription, and decides to follow them. She is, naturally, enraged when she sees Hordor kick "her" human. This might work better as a second prompt, but one of the soldiers injures Belle during the altercation, so Rumple and Bae decide to help her back to her cave/nurse her back to health., @Anonymous: Drider!Belle defends Rumple/Bae from something/someone

* * *

 It was a rare treat for Belle to find her human in her territory. Not unheard of, but his recent timid incursions were usually carefully timed for when she was asleep and they were too random for her to predict and intercept him. The closest she could get was the edge of the forest beyond the border of her territory in the no-man’s land where no drider lived. Her need to hunt and patrol her territory kept her from spying on her human as much as she would have liked, though she savored every glimpse of him that she could get.

So the day that she heard his quiet, incomprehensible barks and cries echoing through the trees in her territory while she was laying webs and collecting prey, her ears perked up eagerly and she hastened towards the location. She slowed down when she was almost there, not wanting to scare him away (at least not before she could get a good look at him). That was when she realized he was not alone.

Belle came to a halt in the shadows of the trees next to the open trail where the humans stood; staying motionless so that her armored, eight legged lower body remained hidden in the shifting darkness and eyed the collection of humans and horses beyond with interest.

Was this her human’s pack? She’d seen no sign of a female mate in the months she’d been spying on him; his child was the only other human to regularly visit his nest. But perhaps that was just how human packs worked – maybe this was a hunting party of some sort.

That was when her human fell to his knees in front of one of the other humans, a larger male, and his offspring started yelping in distress. The low whimpering coughs coming from her human’s mouth were the same sounds he’d made when she’d captured him the first time. They were sounds of fear.

A more careful estimation of the situation revealed that the strange humans were not including him, they were _surrounding_ him and their expressions were not friendly – they were coldly predatory. If this was a hunting party, then her human was not one of the hunters – he was the _prey._

Fury curled her clawed hands into fists and drew her lips back from sharp fangs in a snarl that was accompanied by a low, grating hiss.

Without a second thought, she stepped out of the tree cover and pushed herself to her full height over the humans, snarling savagely and lashing out with her first two sets of forelegs.

Total chaos greeted the drider’s sudden attack. Horses screamed and bucked in terror as the scent of a predator reached them and the men were little better. Those that weren’t flung aside by her legs shouted, screamed, and tried to run – only to find that their horses had fled. One or two pointed their swords at her, but the weapons that had looked so dangerous against their scrawny prisoner were a paltry defense against the massive monster.

Belle hissed, stretching to her full height and towering over the humans that had been hurting _her_ human. All but two of those left standing cut and ran, following their horses on foot. The last two were the leaders - the dark-haired male standing over her human and the one restraining her human’s child. Both of them stank of fear and the whites of their eyes were clearly visible all around their pupils, betraying their terror.

In the time she had spent with her human in her nest, Belle had come to see him as more than simple prey but as she looked as these new humans that was all she could see. Venom dripped from her fangs as her killing instinct sharpened.

The bigger male barked at her with false bravado but when she extended one long black spider-leg in a threatening step, he stumbled backwards. His eyes lit upon his victim, still cowering on the ground and watching the chaos with wide eyes. In a fit of desperation, he lunged for the spinner and yanked him forward by his hair, drawing a pained yelp from the crippled man as he was dragged forward. The bigger man threw his victim down in front of the advancing drider and, so that he could not crawl away, kicked him in the head. _Hard_.

The spinner’s head snapped back, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell in a heap in the center of the road, unconscious.

Rage painted Belle’s vision red. Instead of falling on the new prey as the strange human intended, giving him a chance to run, she stepped right over the obstacle and went straight for the target of her anger.

Frantic human barking met her actions. The leader slashed out at her in desperation, leaving a hot, stinging line of pain across one leg, but it was not enough to even slow her down. There was no way the human could outrun her scuttling, eight legged lunge.

He went down with a hoarse scream that hurt her ears but did not even make her pause. She picked him up by his shirt, effortlessly restraining him as she yanked his head to the side and dug her fangs deeply into his neck, injecting enough venom to kill a creature twice his size. Instantly, he started to cough and choke, then to shake, and within a minute he hung dead in her grasp.

She carelessly tossed the corpse aside, wrinkling her nose at the taste of the human blood that now liberally smeared her mouth and chin. It seemed her parents had been correct; two legged prey did not taste very good.

The second aggressor had fled, she found when she looked up. He’d used his companion’s death as an opportunity to run away unnoticed. Even now, Belle could hear his clumsy, crashing steps as he ran away – right into her territory. There was no need to follow him; he was headed for the human road, but the route he’d chosen would take him through two of her webs. In his panic, she was sure that he’d run right into one soon and she’d kill him when she finished checking her webs for prey tonight. His prisoner – her human’s child – had been left unharmed in the center of the road where he still stood staring at her silently, face white and reeking of fear but not running away.

With that assurance, she turned towards _her_ human, still lying insensate on the road and gently picked him up, holding him upright as she assessed whether he was alive or not. She could smell the blood rushing beneath his skin, see the way his eyes darted nervously beneath his eyelids, and feel the slight twitching and flinching of his skin under her touch. Even unconscious, it seemed he was frightened and trying to flee from her. Or, more likely, from the other humans.

That was enough to summon a dark scowl to Belle’s face. She’d sent him home because she wanted him to be _happy_ and _safe._ Not tortured and killed by his own kind!

It seemed her first instinct had been right after all; she’d have to take care of him herself.

She set him down gently for a moment as she drew a long sheet of silk, then wrapped it around him securely – but not too tightly. She’d learned just how much he hated that the last he lived with her. After that, she just held him close for a long moment, clutching him to her like a child with a favorite toy – possessive, protective, and ultimately glad to have him securely in her grasp once again.

Then she easily slung him across her back and bound him lightly in place with another sheet of silk so that he would not fall.

She hissed an absentminded instruction at her human’s child as she turned to scuttle back to her nest.

_Cli-cick_

_“Follow.”_

* * *

 Bae had no choice but to pursue the spider-monster carrying his father despite the horrors he had just witnessed. He stumbled past the contorted, motionless bodies of Hordor and the soldiers that were unfortunate enough to being the spider’s reach when she lashed out. It hadn’t even been hard for her to kill them. He wasn’t even sure she _realized_ she’d killed so many.

Those eight legs of hers were deceptively fast even with one of them injured and dripping dark blood and ichor, and Bae found himself rushing to catch up, several times relying on the blood trail she left in her wake. He might have let her outpace him (since he was now more frightened than ever of her kind)…but he could see Rumpelstiltskin’s limp form slung over her insectoid lower back like a sack of flour and securely held in place by webbing that he knew he wouldn’t be able to break. He wasn’t going to lose his father again.

“W-wait!” He called when it looked like she was about to climb a tree too sheer for his human hands.

Then he quickly slid to a halt and back-pedaled when her immediate response was to turn on him, glaring and making threatening clicking sounds. She was on him before he could bolt and he fell to his back, tripping over his own feet in shock and terror. Her massive abdomen hovered over him and her spider-legs surrounded him on all sides, caging him in.

At that point, she hesitated and Bae took the opportunity to kick at her desperately and managed to catch her injured leg, drawing a pained gasp. But the distraction did not have the effect he wanted – instead of backing off when her face twisted in pain, she lurched forward, poisonous fangs bared.

The young teenager screamed in fear and threw his hands up to defend his neck. He was so expecting the monster to rip his throat out that he barely felt the light prick as her fangs pierced the skin on one of his outspread wrists.

He felt the effects though – his head started spinning and his fingers and toes became numb, a sensation that slowly spread up his limbs. His coordination was one of the first things to go so he could not crawl away when he realized what was happening. He was left to slowly fall unconscious and wonder if this was what Hordor had felt in his last moments.

* * *

 Belle watched the young human fall with irritation. She should have wrapped him up when she picked up her human, it seemed. She’d been trying to be _nice_ and she’d offered to take up with her when she was about to climb! And in response he’d _attacked_ her!

However, he was her human’s child and her human would not be happy without him. She could not hurt him and she could not leave him here.

With a put upon sigh, she spun him into a web as well and bound him next to his father. The drop of venom she’d used to knock him unconscious wouldn’t last for long; she’d have to set up a good place to keep them before he woke up. Some place much further from where the other humans lived, where her human could live comfortably for an indefinite period of time.

This time, she knew what would happen if she let him go back to his pack. She would keep him safe, whether he appreciated it or not.

* * *

 Rumple woke up with a splitting headache trying to rip open his head and the unmistakable taste of bile in the back of his throat. Every movement was agony; even the twitching of his fingers seemed to radiate through his skull and it was only with a great effort that he managed to swallow down his nausea and work past the dizziness that was telling him he was moving even though he hadn’t so much as twitched and the ground beneath him was solid.

Slowly, he managed to pry his eyes open, squinting them against the scant light. There wasn’t enough of it – the sun must be going down. He needed to get home so Bae wouldn’t worry about him. Thankfully, whatever bully had put him in such a state seemed to have abandoned him once he was knocked unconscious. Rumple just hoped he’d been left somewhere relatively safe and clean. There did not seem to be any carriage wheels creaking around him nor footsteps of men or animals so perhaps he truly was alone. He wasn’t too worried about not remembering what happened: he’d been bullied and knocked out enough to know that it wasn’t uncommon to lose a few memories, especially in the first few hours.

Bae was far more important. How long had Rumple been unconscious? The lad must be frantic.

Very, very slowly the spinner realized that there was something very wrong about his assumptions. First, he noticed that the hard floor was not packed dirt or scrubby grass – it was true stone, which was rare in his poor village. Second, he noticed the smell. It was not overwhelming or immediately obvious – it was a subtle sort of tang, a little bit metallic like blood. He’d smelled it before when he was held captive by the spider woman and it wasn’t dissimilar to what you’d find around a slaughtered sheep killed by a pack of wolves. It raised the hairs on the back of his neck and his instincts immediately started shouting ‘ _danger, predator’_. However, when he tried to react, pain once again lanced through his head and he was unable to suppress an agonized whimper. A warm weight leaning against his side stirred.

“Papa?” His son was there. How had he not realized that? “Papa!”

He tried to form his lips into the proper response, but even that small movement hurt. His eyes slipped closed.

“Papa!”

But Bae needed him. He couldn’t go back to sleep, no matter how strongly the peaceful nothing of unconsciousness beckoned. Despite the pain, he forced his eyes open and whispered his son’s name.

“Bae?”

“Papa! That spider monster kidnapped us! I mean, okay, I guess she saved as from Hordor too, but she _bit_ me! And you were wrapped up in her web – are you okay? What’s wrong? Can I help? Did she hurt you?”

The babble of words mostly passed in one ear and out the other. He had no recollection of the events Bae was talking about.

“My head…” He managed to force out, hating to burden his son with the knowledge of his injury, but knowing he couldn’t avoid it, not with Bae having found him in such a state.

“Oh! Horder kicked you in the head. Hard. I guess…really hard. Papa?” A hand shook his shoulder, concerned. “Papa, are you okay?”

Though the gesture carried the best of intentions, the movement jostled Rumple’s head and instantly he was once again consumed in pain. He twisted onto his side away from his son instinctively as agony and dizziness exploded through his skull, forcing his stomach to abruptly lurch in protest and he retched weakly. Nothing came up – he hadn’t been able to stomach food for the past few days, not since Hordor started coming for the children.

“Papa!”

Bae’s voice seemed to come from far away. Memories were slowly emerging now – Hordor coming for the children, looking at Bae, running away…kneeling…

Despite his son’s voice trying to call him back to the present, Rumple slipped back into unconsciousness chased by Hordor’s sneering, barking voice and the giant silhouette of a spider with burning blue eyes reaching towards him out of the shadows.

* * *

 Bae watched his papa go limp with fear. When he’d woken up, he’d been upset to find out what the spider monster had done to him but he’d assumed his papa would be able to take care of everything when he woke up. Maybe he could convince the monster to let them go again, like he had last time. He’d assumed that his father would be fine when he woke up, just like Bae, and they would instantly begin to plan their escape. They would be fine, so long as they were together.

But he was wrong. His papa was _not_ okay. Not at all. And it wasn’t the monster’s fault – it was Hordor’s.

Bae hadn’t liked Hordor but he’d always thought he was an impressive figure. He was a soldier and a knight, a fighter so unlike his father, and he’d always covertly thought the other boys and girls were being taken away to have adventures and find glory fighting in the war. At his age, death seemed like an impossibility, and he was full of youthful confidence that told him that of _course_ his papa was over-reacting to the draft. Everyone called him a coward for a reason, after all, and Hordor had been sent by the lord of the Frontlands so couldn’t be _all_ bad.

Except he’d done _this_ to his father, for no reason. He’d been mean to his father when he caught them on the road in ways that Bae wasn’t sure he really understood, but this hadn’t been in response to his father’s cowardice. It had been a selfish, cowardly attempt to condemn Rumpelstiltskin to death in his place. Hordor had called his papa a coward, but _his_ actions had been even more cowardly. At least his papa had been trying to protect him!

Hordor’s death at the spider monster’s hands was the first death Bae had ever seen and he found that he did not regret it. Looking at his father twisted over in pain with fresh blood trickling down the side of his head, he realized he was actually _glad_ the bully of a soldier was dead.

A sharp clicking sound immediately commanded his gaze and he turned to look at the opening to the cave where he’d woken up with his father, immediately tensing up at the sight of the spider monster crouching down to look in at him. He swallowed.

She’d looked in on him before, but he’d always screamed at her and thrown loose rocks trying to scare her away, believing that all he needed to do was wait until his papa woke up and they could escape. To his surprise, she’d merely stepped back and left him alone so far. Now…he knew his assumptions had been incorrect and she was the only help he or his father were likely to get. He didn’t know where they were and they wouldn’t be welcome in the village even if he managed to escape and run for help.

“My papa’s hurt.” He said, tone as even as he could make it. There was no recognition in her eyes, just blank lack of understanding, but when he did not try to drive her away, she eased her way through the opening, forced to duck her head to avoid the hanging lip. Bae’s hands curled into fists and he longed to fight or flee, but indecision and protectiveness kept him firmly planted as his father’s side.

The spider woman stopped close enough to look down at Rumpelstiltskin but far enough away that Bae would not be able to hit her if he lashed out. A little of his fear evaporated when he saw the way her brow knit with concern when she saw the blood staining his father’s head and the painful, tight curl of his body.

“Can you help him?” Bae demanded desperately.

To his surprise, she made an odd grating, purring sound and he held absolutely still as she reached out with one clawed hand and patted him on the head. The young teen watched in disbelief as she repeated the gesture with his papa and then scuttled out of the cave.

She was back within an hour bearing some green herbs with broad leaves and tiny white flowers that looked familiar to Bae but he wasn’t sure why. He watched as she mashed them into a paste between two stones and did not interfere when she carefully applied them to his father’s wound – now painfully swollen – and bound the poultice in place with sheets of bandage-like silk.

Almost immediately, the deep lines of pain in Rumpelstiltskin’s face eased and he relaxed into a more natural healing sleep. Something tight in Bae’s chest eased and he found himself shaking with the loss of adrenaline. The spider-woman made that same purring noise, patted him on the head again, stroking his hair with something like affection, and then retreated, once again leaving him alone with his papa.

* * *

 The next time Rumpelstiltskin woke up, he remembered everything. The pain had receded to a dull throb with occasional bright bursts when he moved his head too quickly, but he could think again and he managed to push himself into a sitting position without any assistance. Bae was so relieved to see him upright and clear-eyed that he lunged into his arms, hugging him tightly in a way he hadn’t since the last time they’d been separated.

Rumple returned the hug and smiled at his son, relieved beyond measure that he was safe and free from Hordor’s death sentence of a draft. However, he quickly realized there was something on his head and when he reached up to find a length of silk wrapped around it, pinning a spot of comforting coolness to the lump on the side, he realized there was a price to pay for their freedom from the soldiers.

Bae explained everything in a confusing babble of words that seemed to boil down to the spider-woman attacking the soldiers and kidnapping the two peasants, killing Hordor in the process, and then caring for Rumple’s wounds while he was unconscious. He listened without comment, uncertain how to feel or respond.

Just as Bae’s explanation was coming to a close, a familiar _scrape-click_ drew Rumple’s attention to the opening of his newest prison – or perhaps his refuge. The spider-woman was standing on the other side, looking at him and Bae with her head cocked. To his surprise, his son did not shrink back in fear. In fact, he was the first one to respond.

“He’s okay, see?” It took a moment for Rumple to realize Bae was talking to the drider.

Her eyes flicked towards him and then re-focused on Rumple who shot her a wan smile.

“Thank you for saving us.” He knew she didn’t understand, but still felt he needed to make the effort. And even though she didn’t understand the words, she seemed to understand his tone because she smiled and stepped forward.

It was hard not to glance nervously at her multitude of intimidating legs, as always, but this time he noticed something new – on her left front leg, there was a poultice much like the one on his head, only it was sliding down and stained with dark blood-like ichor.

“What happened?” His tone sharpened. The other two blinked at him in surprise before looking at her leg.

“Oh. I guess Hordor hurt her. I didn’t notice.” Bae squirmed guiltily. It didn’t seem right, somehow, that he hadn’t noticed.

She merely clicked and tossed her head, which Rumple imagined meant ‘ _I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.’_

He frowned deeply in response and slowly dragged himself to his feet, gathering what little courage he had before limping forward. Bae quickly inserted himself under his arm to help him walk.

“You saved us.” He explained simply, trying to communicate his intentions with his eyes. She was too familiar to be so intimidating, now. “Let me help you.”

She seemed bemused, but delighted when he approached her of his own free will and sank down into her version of a sitting position to let him carefully re-bind the poultice over the injury and even use a torn scrap of his own shirt to make the dressing firmer. Bae helped by holding it steady as Rumple wound the dressing, only hesitating for a few seconds before firming his resolve and setting his hand on the spider leg half as long as his entire body.

Somehow, despite knowing that she’d killed multiple human soldiers so recently, the spider-woman seemed less threatening to the humans now than she’d ever been before.


End file.
